The Laurel Community Center Games Club has sessions every Thursday starting at 6 PM, lasting until 9 PM. The Community Center is located at 7901 Cypress Street, Laurel MD 20707. Phone: (301)-497-0300. The Laurel Community Center Games Club is affiliated with the Games Club of Maryland ("GCOM"), which has over 30 locations in Maryland and the surrounding states and the District of Columbia.

Those of us who got there early tried a new press-your-luck game called Satakku (Stack, in Japanese, I think). The goal of the game was to roll dice and place equal or higher dice on top of each other to form a stack. Jason B had a couple really strong rounds and won with 238 points. I gave him a run and got close with 190. Ben was next with 140 and the dice just were not Jason A's friends, leaving him in the dust with only 60 pts.

Eric and his girls played another press-your-luck game of Cheeky Monkey. Eric won with 47 points. Rachel was really close with 43. Rebecca came a distant third with only 9.

After this we broke out the heavier games. Thanks to Rouslan, we played a game of Power Grid Germany with the best name of an expansion I've seen in a long time, The High Voltage DC Transmission Passage C expansion. The expansion is based on real events going on in Germany. Arnold pulled out the win powering 15 cities. Eugene was close with 14. Ben and Eric tied with 13 cities, with Ben winning third with $4, err, Electros, more than Eric. I came up at the back of the pack with 12.

Terraforming Mars was played at the other table. This game went most of the night because a mistake happened and too many cards were used. John won the game with 68 pts. Chris came in next with 62 and Lena was a close 3rd with 59. This game wins player quotes of the week. Overheard from the table were "Ya gotta get those microbes" and "I have titanium coming out my wazoo." I can't decide so they both win quote-of-the-week.

The third big game was Empires at Sea. The game ended up with Rouslan with winning with 52 pts. Chris was really close with 51 pts. Jason A and Rembert came in close with 46 and 45 points respectively. Jason B finished in the back of the pack with 26.

The night wrapped up with one last press-your-luck game, Cloud 9. Given lucky draws of wild cards, I won the game with 52 points. Arnold, Eugene and Ben were close with 44, 42 and 39 points respectively. Eric wrapped up the night with 30.

We started the night by splitting into two groups. Jason, Chris, Ben and I played Tiny Epic Western. Chris dominated the game by making the right purchases each round. He easily won with 24 points. Ben and Jason were close with 19 and 18 points respectively and I was a distance last with only 10.

The rest of the group played Power Grid: First Sparks. Tim won the game with 13. Eugene had a close second with 12, John had 11, Rembert 10. Jason had some serious problems midgame and was never able to recover and ended with 6.

Both games wrapped up about the same time and we shuffled the players. Eugene, I, Tim and Rembert played Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big Cities. Eugene got his engine going pretty early. I almost caught up but the dice didn't betray him and he built all his improvements first. I was close with 6. Tim had 5. Rembert fell victim to the red cards and was last with 3.

Potion Explosion was played by the rest. John won with 72 points. Chris had 60 pts, Ben 50 and Jason 48.

We had another good night. In attendance were me, Ben K, John W., another John W, Chris, Eugene, Jason A, my co-host Jason, Arnold and Rouslan. The first game was New Bedford. Many people started to play this. As new people arrived, people kept breaking off into other games. A full game was played the original John W, Jason A., Rouslan and Rembert. Rouslan and Jason both ended up with 30 points but Rouslan won the tiebreaker with most total whales. John came in third with 25 and Rembert's ship sailed off with 17 points.

Eugene, Chris, co-host Jason and Ben played Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Eugene came in with a strong win with 121 points. Jason came in next with 108, Chris with 102 and Ben with 96.

The other John W, Arnold and I played Corcordia Salsa. We played with salt but skipped the forums this time. I made a quick play for the salt and my results were as usual when I try that. Arnold won with 109 points, John was right behind him with 108 and I pulled up third with 99.

As things were wrapping up, two shorter games broke out. Rembert, host emeritus John W, Arnold and Rouslan played Love Letter. Rembert was declared the winner after winning 2 rounds. Rouslan won 1 round. There was no love for either John or Arnold :(.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Session Report for 15-Sept-2016

Hi. This is Mike taking over the blog for John. On Sept 15th, we had a great turnout. Attendance was me, Ben K, our host emeritus John, Chris, Lina, my co-host Jason, Rouslan, Marian, Arnold, Tim, Eric and Rembert. We also had a first-timer Chris W.

The early attendees started by playing a new game, Thief's Market, but we stopped the game early once more people showed up. We broke into three groups. John, Chris, Lina and Jason played California Gold. Lina, who I believe was looking forward to playing won the game with 15 points. Jason came a close 2nd at 14, John came in next at 12 with Chris with 11.

The second group played ZhanGuo. Rouslin taught the game and won with 151 pts. Rembert came in next with 126, Chris W. had 121 and Marian finished with 114.

At the third table, we played two games. We started with Power Grid Benelux. The game was tight, with Tim being "the best" almost every round. Right after phase 3 started, Tim was able to build to 15 cities (it was a 5 person game) and was able to power 14. This was enough for him to get the win as none of us had more. In the end, Eric powered 13, Ben 12, Arnold 11 and yours truly, 9. All of us thought it was going to go one more round.

That game wrapped up in 2 hours and we started another game of Thief's Market. We had to call the game one round early but we still scored it. The game was deeper than we initially thought and quite cutthroat. In the end, Ben dominated the game with a score of 24 points. The next closest player was Arnold with 11, with Tim ending with 9 and Eric 8. I finished with only 3 pts.

I want to remind everyone that Congress of Gamers will be this weekend in Rockville. They hold a tournament that scores you across many different games. It's really tests you skill across multiple games. John W will also be teaching many new games over the weekend. I'll be helping by teaching Star Trek Ascendancy. Check the schedule on the site.

Also, as you can see from this, I'm experimenting with linking to BGG. I've looked up profiles for people I know. If you want me to link to your account, leave a comment with a link to your profile and I'll add it. See you Thursday.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Just wanted to let everyone know that, as of Labor Day, after 11 years of service as Host, I am turning the Host duties over to my co-Host of the last several years, Mike Brazinski. Mike has agreed to serve as the new Host, and Jason Baker, a Laurel resident who has been a regular attendee for the past several months, has agreed to serve as the new Co-Host.

Just figured out how to give Mike access and posting privileges on this blog, so he can take over although there may be a bit of a hiatus.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Ten attendees for this session: Mike, Jason B, Alex, Ben K, Chris, Eugene, Lina, Arnold, Rembert and myself were the attendees. It was Chris' third session so he signed up as a GCOM Associate Member. Games played: Walk the Plank, Star Trek: Ascendancy, Settlers of Catan, California Gold and Sushi Go.

Walk the Plank was the quick warmup game with player elimination. Ben K was last one standing, so he won with Lina coming second. Jason B and Alex also participated.

Mike had been fortunate enough to attend a special demo of a brand new game and also to pick up a copy, so he set up Star Trek: Ascendancy. Chris and I were the other two players. Mike was the Federation, I was the Klingons and Chris, the Romulans. Chris appeared to get out to an early lead, so Mike and I both attacked him. Mike was more successful than I, so we declared him the winner although we didn't quite make it through the full game -- but it was obvious Mike was going to fulfill the winning condition before either Chris or I.

Other games and results:

Settlers: Jason B 10 followed by Eugene and Arnold at 8, Rembert last at 6.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Attendance down a bit this week, but we had Chris (back for the second week in a row) along with Jason A, Jason B, Arnold, Eugene, Rembert and myself for a total of seven. Games played: For Sale, Dead of Winter, Puerto Rico and Ingenious.

For Sale was the quick warmup game, we had a full table of six. It turned out to be a narrow win for Eugene. Final scores: Eugene 55K, Arnold 54, John (me) 47K, Chris 36K, Jason A 34K, Jason B 33K.

Dead of Winter was a three-player coop game, took most of the rest of the session. Word has it that the players (Arnold, Chris and Rembert) won.

The rest of us got in two more games. Puerto Rico, won by myself in a close one with Eugene second. Scores: John 47, Eugene 45, Jason A 39, Jason B 30.
Ingenious was another win for Eugene, with Jason B in second. Scores: Eugene 17, Jason B 13, Rembert and I brought up the rear at 11.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Attendance of 12 for this week's session, including one first-time attendee (Chris) along with Mike, Jason A, Ben K, Greg, Arnold, Lina, Tim, Rouslan, Rembert, Neville and myself. This week we were in a different location (the gaming room) and had three tables going for most of the session, including a game on the Ping Pong table. Games played were Keyflower, The Networks, Switching Tracks and Sanssouci.

Keyflower was won by Tim (56) ahead of Mike (53), Jason A (41) and Chris (23). Game notes indicate that not a single green producer or shipping tile ever came out, a rarity.

The Networks produced an exciting finish, with Neville coming from behind to eke out a close win over Arnold and Greg. Scores were Neville 245, Arnold 243, Greg 242, Lina 222 while I brought up the rear at 205. I got dinged pretty hard by some last turn events (Network cards) and am thinking the main reason I came in last was I didn't invest in taking those Network cards during the game.

The third group -- at the Ping Pong table -- got in two games. First was Switching Tracks -- scores were Rouslan 4, Ben K 4, Rembert 3 -- then Sanssouci, final scores were Rouslan 86, Ben K 76, Rembert 74.

Cockroach Poker was the warmup game that ended quickly when the first player -- me -- was eliminated. We then split into two groups for the longer games. One group chose Keyflower, which was won by Eugene (69) ahead of Mike (56), Jason B (50) and Rembert ((39).

The other group played The Networks, a new game which I had brought. Winner was Rouslan (242). I managed second (235) ahead of Arnold and Jason A who tied for third at 221 (Arnold had more money and would have placed ahead of Jason on the tiebreaker).

Late games were 3-player as some people left early. These were Seeland, won by Rouslan (175) ahead of me (149) and Arnold (106); and Pyramix, won by Jason B (27) ahead of Mike (24) and Rembert (20).

We broke into 3 groups for the evening. The first table was me, Dave and the two Jasons. We started with New Bedford, a game that arrived during WBC. We had a couple rule issues with payouts but once we got started, two strategies appeared. I started whaling as quick as possible and the rest went with buildings. Over the course of the game, everyone else started whaling except Jason A. who just built stuff. In the end, he dominated the scores ending with 34. Jason B got 27, Dave got 22 and I wound up last with 17. I'm still not sure we played everything right but looking on BGG afterwards didn't show any errors.

The four of us then played a Vegas Showdown game. The game was new for both Jasons with Jason A once again winning after Dave completed filled his board completely. Jason A won with 64 pts, I had 54, Dave had 41 and Jason B ended with 39.

At the second table was Ben, Rouslin, Patrick and Tom (I don't recall see seeing him before). They started a full Machi Koro with both expansions. The game went over 2 hours with Tom finishing his city after a long, drawn-out fight. That table finished up by playing Cockroach Poker, with Rouslin being the first player eliminated.

The rest of the players played Switching Tracks. I don't know anything on how that game finished."

Monday, August 1, 2016

As previously reported, Mike and I attended WBC convention this past week and missed the club session as a result. However, Jason ably filled in for us in terms of the hosting duties and reports the following:

Curious as to people's thoughts on these new games, none of which I have played yet (have heard alot about the last two, not much about Matcha which I guess was a quick starter game).

Obvious reason for the low attendance was the conflict with WBC (and perhaps vacation plans for many regular club attendees). In addition to Mike and myself, I saw Tim, David, Eugene and Moon at WBC and, since it's a rather large convention, I may have missed some of you who were there. Congrats to Moon who won two tourneys (Castles of Burgundy and Tzolkin) at her first WBC, but since results aren't religiously posted I have no idea if there are other winners from among our group. Speaking for myself, the closest I came was semis in both Tin Goose and Churchill, but no plaques and probably no laurels as my second place in the Tin Goose semis was probably not among the closest seconds to place me in the top six.

For next week, I have a trip planned to an even larger convention (GenCon, in Indianapolis) so Mike will be in charge, hopefully Jason will be there to assist.

Monday, July 25, 2016

We had 11 for this week's session and played a total of three games. Attendees: Jason, Eugene, Ben K, Ben A, Patrick, Rembert, Arnold, Neville, Tom (who was here for the first time), David and myself. Games Played: Abradawha, Fire and Axe and Manhattan Project: Energy Empire (the PnP version).

Abracadawha was the warm-up game while waiting for people to arrive. Six of us took part, and we only managed to finish one round. Patrick knocked out Ben K and wound up the winner with 3 points. Jason, Eugene, Rembert and I also participated.

The longer games were Fire and Axe and the PnP of the yet to be released sequel to Manhattan Project. Fire and Axe I had the scores reported as Jason 98, Patrick 90, Eugene 87, Arnold 82. But I also had Ben A listed as an attendee, so I believe he must have been in the game as well. I know they had a full table.

The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire was a full table of five, and I let David play my position which I took over when he had to leave. Our combined efforts resulted in 86 points, good for the win over Neville and Rembert (78), Tom (77) and Ben K (76). Due to time constraints, we picked up the game without playing the final round, and Ben K said he was about to score some major points, so things certainly could have changed. Also, I later discovered a rules miscue: Only one player could get to the final rung of the UN track. (Three of us did it in the game, which should not have been allowed.)

A reminder that next week our numbers will dwindle a bit as Mike, Eugene, David and I plan to be at WBC. The following week I plan to go to GenCon so will hope to see everyone in 2 weeks. Jason will be in charge of tracking attendance next week, then Mike should be back the following week.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Attendance of 12 this week: Mike, Ben K, Jason B, Jason A (someone who attended a couple of years back but returned this week), Lina, Tim, Eugene, Arnold, Patrick, Rembert, David (who showed up late and didn't get into a game) and myself were the attendees. Games played: Niya, Lords of Waterdeep, and Acquistion: Empires (a prototype that Jason A had brought).

Niya (which Jason B had brought) was a quick-playing, warm-up game for just two players. Kind of chess-like, seemed like a glorified version of Tic Tac Toe. Ties were possible. In one game, Mike defeated Ben K while I drew with Jason B.

Jason A had brought a prototype of his own design, Acquisition: Empires, that eventually attracted six players. It was kind of a space travel game where you needed to make it home with a stipulated set of money, but it also had a stock market and space combat aspect to the game. Took the rest of the time, and we decided Lina was going to be the winner the next round with Rembert coming in second. Patrick got his spaceship blown up twice in combat, mostly with Jason whose special characteristic was a die roll bonus when attacking (the rest of us had various economic type advantages).

The other game was Lords of Waterdeep, and it also ended up taking most of the session time. Scores in that one were Eugene 142, Arnold 116, Tim 110, Ben K 98 and Mike 97.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Eight for this week's session. The group included Patrick, Mike, Jason, Ben K, Tim, Marion, Rembert and myself. A total of four games were played: Here Kitty Kitty, Founding Fathers, Keyflower and Last Spike. Results follow.

Here Kitty Kitty was the warmup game. Jason, who brought the game, wound up on top with 70 points. Mike was second with 40, I managed 38, just ahead of Patrick last with 35.

We then broke into two groups. Five of us played Founding Fathers, which Jason had brought. At the start, I drew James Madison which meant I went first. Marion had William Paterson, Ben K had Roger Sherman, Jason drew Charles Pinckney while Rembert took on the role of Alexander Hamilton. Winner was Marion -- who had not played the game before. She had 24 points, with Rembert (who was also playing the game for the first time) in second with 17. Jsaon (another newcomer to the game) was third with 14, while the so-called "experts" Jason and I were fourth (12 points) and fifth (7 points), respectively. Not one of my better games, as I had Ben Franklin for the last round but Marion and others kept removing my blocks, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game anyway.

The other group, consisting of Tim, Mike and Patrick, got in two games. First was Keyflower, won by Tim (65) ahead of Mike (51) and Patrick (46). Then the evening wrapped with Last Spike, which Patrick (who brought the game) and I had played last week at the Summer PrezCon tournament. Winner was Mike (113) ahead of Tim (83) and Patrick (55).

Ben K, Alex, Jason and I started the evening with a game of Game: The Game. It's a co-op where the players are trying to empty their hands of cards numbered from 2 to 99. We almost made it but boxed ourselves into a figurative corner and just lost right after the draw deck emptied. It was close.

As others arrived, we broke into two games. The first group played Marco Polo. Rouslan won with a a score of 87 with Jason next at 75, Alex at 60 and Ben K at 40.

Poseidon was the other game, with me teaching in to Ben A and Arnold and refreshing the rules to Tim. This was the first exposure of any 18xx style game for Ben and Arnold. I was leading most of the way but the gods of stupid moves blessed me with the idea of starting a third company in the last round and my game collapsed. Ben A pulled out the win (which is news to him as he had to leave before we summed up the scores) with $4,179. Tim came next with $3,760, Arnold with $3,587 and me with $3,061. We finished just at 9:00."

My only comment, was Mike once again proved what a great teacher he was, finishing last in Poseidon while the new player finished first.

Hope to see everyone this coming week. Remember, the deadline for signing up for the GCOM Family Picnic is this Thursday, July 7th, as well.

Alex, Arnold and I tackled the Orleans: Invasion expansion, a 3-player co-op version. Things looked bad about midway through when Alex realized that houses built as forts didn't count for his individual victory condition, which required four houses as trading posts. In spite of this, we managed to pull out a win on the final turn of the game although it was close (we needed something like four or five Soliders in the last turn or two).

The Gallerist was another three-player (Patrick, David and Lina) that did not quite make it to the finish line.

Finally, Rouslan and Rembert broke out Seeland after the Russian Railroads game finished. No report on how the game turned out, not sure they finished it.

Will be at an out-of-town gaming event next week, so co-Host Mike will be in charge.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Ten for this week's session. Jason, Mike, Rouslan, Ben K (back for session #3), Alec, Greg, Patrick, Tim, Rembert and I were the attendees. Games played: Too Many Cinderellas, Walls, Automobile and Power Grid Deluxe (North America) were the games played.

Too Many Cinderellas, which I brought, and Walls, which Jason brought, were the warm-up games. Too Many Cinderellas was a four-player, went for just one round, I managed to win versus Jason, Mike and Rouslan while we waited for more people to show up. Ben K and Alec were added for the Walls game, which was kind of kind going through an ever-changing maze, and that game was picked up once we got up to 10.

We then broke into two five-player games for the rest of the session. One game was Automobile, which Patrick brought. Winner was Rouslan, who claimed not to have played before, with a fine score of 4930. I managed to finish second at 4320, followed by Rembert (3620), Patrick (3330) and Jason (3010), who was also new.

The other game was Power Grid: Deluxe, with the North America map, which Mike had brought. Two people tied with 15 cities, and winner based on most money was Ben (15 cities, 14 money) ahead of Mike (15 cities, 1 money). Other scores: Tim (14 cities, 0 money); Greg (13 cities, 15 money); and Alec, 13 cities (12 money).

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Good attendance this week, total of 13 (14 if you count Steve, who stopped in briefly but did not get in a game). Rest of the list is Mike, Ben K (back for a second week in a row), David, Jason, Alex, Rouslan, Arnold, Neville, Greg, Eugene, Tim, Rembert and myself. Games played: Onitama (x2), Stockpile, Love Letter, Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania, Russian Railroads: German Railroads, Quadropolis, Biblios Dice and Fuse. This report will provide some details and results on some, but not all, as there were quite a few games going on.

Onitama was a two-player, chess-like variant with cards that Jason had brought. I believe Rouslan played a game or two with Jason at the outset, plus there may have been a couple of other games, maybe with Rembert playing a game or two as well.

Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania adds a UP-style stock market majority aspect to the game. Winner was Mike with 191, followed closely by Greg (186), Ben (172) and Tim (165).

Finally, certain people got in their Russian RR/German RR fix. Winner (and by a wide margin) was Rouslan (438) followed by Eugene (330) then Jason (260) and finally Rembert (230). I believe this was a first play for Jason and Rembert, although one or both may have been familiar with the basic Russian RR game.

Second round of games saw Quadropolis (won by Greg wth 53 over Mike at 49, Ben and Tim at 46) and Love Letter (a four-player, David had 3 wins to 2 for me, 1 for Arnold, 0 for Neville). But, as Neville, pointed out, "the Princess loved me most." In fact, Neville got the Princess so often that the last round David got him out early by playing a Guard and guessing Neville had the Princess.

Final games of the evening were Fuse (a co-op game) played by Rouslan, Jason and Rembert, and also Biblios: Dice, won by Arnold (30) with me nosing out Neville for second (24 to 23).

A reminder that we're less than a month away from the pre-registration deadline for the GCOM Family Picnic. Details can be found by clicking the link at the GCOM website, gamesclubofmd.org

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Good turnout of 14 for this week's session. Attendees included three newcomers, Ben K., Shere and Bernie, along with Jason (back for his third session), Alan (whom we haven't seen in a long, long time) plus regulars Mike, David, Rouslan, Lina, Patrick, Alex, Marion, Rembert and myself. Games played: Codenames, Yedo, Copper Country and Marco Polo.

First up was Codenames, the quick warm-up game, and Mike and I were the clue givers. Mike's team -- which included Ben K and David -- won over my team as I gave some pretty bad clues that my teammates Rouslan and Lina had trouble figuring out. Oh well, after this we broke into three longer games.

One was Yedo, which Patrick had brought. Sheree showed up but was unable to stay for the entire session. Final scores were Lina 33, Patrick 23. Jason 12 and Rembert 10.

Copper Country, which Alan had brought, was a game I had played a couple of years back as a prototype at GenCon. It was extremely close, with Alan (30) coming out on top based on some endgame scoring that the rest missed out on. Other scores were David and me at 27, Mike at 26.

Finally, Rouslan brought Marco Polo but this time he did not win. Winner was Marion (103) ahead of Rouslan (95), Alex (60) and Ben K (68).

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Last session before Memorial Day Holidays, still had good attendance of nine: Patrick, David, Jason (back for a second week in a row), Greg, Eugene, Marion, Tim, Rembert and myself were the attendees. The warm-up game was Codenames, then surprisingly, two games of Tin Goose broke out.

Codenames the teams were David, as cluegiver, with Marion, Jason and myself as teammates, versus Greg (as cluegiver) with Rembert, Patrick and Eugene as teammates. I believe Greg's team won, but I didn't keep accurate notes so I am not sure.

Then, a rarity, two tables of games broke out (that part isn't unusual), but the fact that both tables featured the same game (the recently released Tin Goose) was. One table was a four-player, won by Patrick (with a score of 348) followed by Marion (328), David (295) and Rembert (172).

The other game was a five-player, and extremely close, as three of us topped 300. Winner was myself (320), second Tim (309) followed closely by Eugene (304). Greg (272) and Jason (263) rounded out the field. Jason bid for start player and seemed to get off to a good start -- like John B in last week's game -- but things didn't work out quite so well. Still enjoying every play of this recently released sim of the early years of the airline industry.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

We had a couple of new attendees, Jason and Joe, to help swell our attendance total to 14 this week; Patrick, Mike, David, Rouslan, Neville, Lina, John B, Eugene, Arnold, Rembert, Tim and myself filled out the roster. Four games were played -- all going on at once: Tin Goose, Quadropolis, Battlecore and Galaxy Trucker.

Tin Goose was back for the second week in a row, this time a 5-player. As last week, John B was the winner, having bid quite alot to go first, but it enabled him to build a highly lucrative airline route on the map. Final scores: John B 348, Nevile 310, John W (me) 292, Eugene 208, Patrick 173. 292 (my highest score to date) would have won other games but only good for 3rd here (later I managed to win for the first time but with a much lower score of 266). Every game is different, I suppose.

Anyway, Quadropolis made its first appearance at the club. Four-player game was a win for Rouslan (51), ahead of David (45), Mike (41) and Lina (30).

Joe and Arnold played a couple of games of Battlecore, the scoresheet says Joe won both.

Finally, a three-player game of Galaxy Trucker broke out. Tim was the big winner there (85) compared to 55 for Jason and 45 for Rembert.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Eight for this week's session; the attendees were Mike, Ben, Alex, Eugene, John B, Rembert and myself, plus one first-time attendee, Anya. Games played were Camel Up (with some components from the new expansion), Tin Goose, Scoville, and we wrapped up with two games of For Sale.

First game while waiting for people to arrive was Camel Up. We had five of us (Eugene, Ben, Alex, Mike and myself) while Mike explained the game and the new stuff with the expansion. Main thing new that I recall was a Camera that gave the person placing it points for the number of camels to cross that space; I believe there were other aspects to the new expansion that we did not play with. Anyway, the game broke up after one of scoring round as more people showed up, plus it was a longer route around the track, so the game wasn't going to finish that quickly.

Three of us (John B, Rembert and myself) played a new release called Tin Goose which I had brought. Anya, who said she preferred to watch, observed for most of the game. It clocked in at close to the advertised one half hour per player plus a bit longer for rules explanation. I got my airline into difficulty and had to take out some emergency loans that sank my chances of winning. Final scores were John B 350, Rembert 325, myself 229. I intend to bring this game again as it seems to have the potential to develop into a new favorite.

The other longish game we played was Scoville. This was a four-player, with Mike, Alex, Ben and Eugene as the participants. There was a flatfooted tie for first plus a tie in the money tiebreak, and no further tiebreaker in the rules. Sharing in the victory at 83 apiece were Ben and Mike. Alex had 70, Eugene with 63 brought up the rear.

There was still time for two games of For Sale, which Anya had brought. Game 1 resulted in a win for yours truly with 63k, followed by Eugene (57K), John B (46K)0, Rembert (43K)0 and Anya (39K). Game 2 was really close and went to John B (57K) followed by Eugene (55K), me (54K), Anya (51K) and Rembert (41K).

Hope to see some of you next week who haven't been to the club for awhile. Lots of fun new games to play these days!

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Attendance was down a bit this week, only 7 of us -- Mike, Alex, David, Patrick, Arnold, Rembert and myself -- were present, and we played the following games: Kodama, Stockpile, Roll for the Galaxy (with some elements of the expansion) and Pax Porfirana.

First up was Kodama, which was a five-player, won by Alex. Scores were Alex 34, Patrick 30, myself 29, Mike 25 and David 11. The game involved building out picture cards to form branches of a tree. I believe we picked it up after one of three rounds or seasons.

We then split into two groups. One group played Stockpile, which I brought and won with 149. Other scores: Arnold 126, Rembert 119, Mike 114. This same group played Race for the Galaxy with one element from the new expansion, which Mike had brought. Rembert won with a score of 49, ahead of Arnold (44), me (41) and Mike (30).

That left David, Patrick and Alex to play Pax Porfirana, which David had brought. Patrick won with a successful overthrow (topple) of the Mexican government to win.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Group of 10 for this week's session. Mike, Patrick, Eugene, Luis, Neville, Marion, Tim, Rembert, Ken and I were the attendees; it was the third session for both Luis and Ken who signed up as GCOM members. Games played: For Sale, Automania and Concordia: Salsa.

For Sale was the opening game, and Neville, Luis, Eugene, Mike, Patrick and I had just started the game when more people showed up, so the game was abandoned and we split into two groups.

One group played Concordia: Salsa, which was won by Eugene (107), with Marion (103) a close second. Tim (89), Mike (74) and Rembert (63) were the other players.

The other game was Automania, which Neville brought. Winner was Neville (66) and I managed to ease into second over Patrick on a tiebreaker (we each had 58) with Luis (56) not far behind. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, and hopefully this will not be its last appearance. Unfortunately, both this game and Concordia ran a bit long and we did not get Ken into a game. Hopefully, next time.

Began with 5-player Cvlizations game (Mike, Neville, Patrick, David and myself) that broke up before finishing as more people showed up. Later on, the game was played to conclusion as a 3-player, with Mike (23) winning, ahead of David (18) and Patrick (17).

Love Letter was also a warm-up game, played by Arnold, John B, Moon and Rouslan. John B and Rouslan each one once before the game was called off.

BrewCrafters was a four-player that took the rest of the session. Moon (90) came out on top. I was second (75). John B (51) and Rembert (46) also played.

Blood Rage was won by Rouslan (86) followed by Arnold (80) and then Neville (67) who of course was teaching the game.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Eleven for this week's session. The group included Mike, David, Alex, Arnold, Marion (back for her third session, signed up as new GCOM Associate Member), Eugene, Rouslan, Tim, Rembert, Ken (back for a second session) and myself. Games played: Rockband Manager, Turin Market, Bohananza, Power Grid: Japan and Codenames.

A couple of the newer games did not go over well, to be honest. Rockband Manager (which I brought) was kind of a glorified version of For Sale where you are discovering and promoting rock bands. The first six (Mike, Alex, Arnold, Marion, Eugene and myself) played this, but we picked it up as it was running way long for a quick starter game. Then, five of us tried a new prototype, Turin Market, that David had brought. It also did not go over well, as there were issues with resolving ties in bidding and kind of an all-or-nothing approach that meant four of the five of us wound up with less money than the 15 we started with. Scores, for what it was worth, were Rouslan 18, Rembert 11, David 9, me 5, Marion 4.

Power Grid was played with the Japan map. No ties in this one, winner was Eugene (17) followed by Tim (15), Arnold (14) and Mike (13).

Ken joined those of us who played Turin Market for a 6-player Bohnanza. Rouslan again emerged victorious. Scores: Rouslan 16, Marion 15, David and Rembert 13, myself 9, Ken 8.

There was still time left for a short game of Codenames. Teams were David, Rembert and Ken versus Marion and myself, and I believe Marion and I came away with the win as I think the other team hit the assassin word.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Huge turnout of 16 (!) for this week's session. Attendees: Mike, David, Luis (back for second session), Lina, Tim, Ben, Alex, Moon, John B, Eugene, Arnold, Marian (also back for a second time), Rembert, myself and two first-time attendees: Alex C and Joe. We had three games going for most of the session, and full tables at that. Games played: Kraftwagen, Pax Porfirana, Vegas Showdown, Ra and Concordia (using the Brittania map). Some details follow.

Kraftwagen: won by Mike (54) with Ben (52) a close second. Arnold (41) and Tim (37) were the other players.

Pax Porfirana: won by Marian, who succeed in overthrowing the Govt. and declaring Martial Law. David (who brought the game), Arnold, Rembert, Luis and Alex C. made for a full table of six.

Vegas Showdown: won by Eugene (65) who got the best tile (the Theater) and ran away from the game. Alex (52) was second, Moon (45) third, and Lina (40) and myself (39) brought up the rear. Everyone had played before except for Lina.

Ra!: was a three-player, won by Eugene (57). Lina and I tied for second (33), but Lina had the highest sun and was therefore ahead on the tiebreaker.

Concordia with the Brittania expansion map: Ben got revenge on Mike for the earlier game, winning by a similarly close margin, 105 to 101 for Mike in second. Tim (81) and Joe (80) rounded out the field. I believe it was Joe's first play of Concordia.

The two longer games were Power Grid and, played for the first time, Automobiles. Power Grid (on the Benelux map) was won by Tim on the money tiebreak, ahead of Eugene. Both had 17 cities, Tim had 13 money to 4 for Eugene. Arnold was a clear third with 15 cities, while Rembert 14 cities (100 money) and Mike 14 cities (20 money) brought up the rear. Automobiles, a bag-building racing game, was won by yours truly ahead of Patrick, Lina and Neville. Lina had the early lead and came close to pulling a lap ahead of Patrick. Patrick then shot into the lead, as did Neville, but I managed to get the right set of cubes to pull out the win.

Orphan Black is a card game based on a TV I haven't seen, which Ken had brought, which Ken managed to win, 11 points to 10 for Neville (in second). Arnold, Rembert and I were the other players. It was a bit of a deduction game when you are trying to figure out what characters the other players are allied with, all while trying to enhance the position of your favored characters and alliance.

Finally, Tim took on Mike at the 2-player 7 Wonders: Duel, winning by a score of 62 to 46.

We broke into three groups of three for the first round of games. Patrick, Lina and Rembert played Black Fleet, which was won by Patrick. Scores: Patrick 54, Lina 48, Rembert 33.

Russian Railroads with the German expansion was won by Eugene. Scores: Eugene 402, Mike 322, Tim 278.

Neville brought Homeland, a spy game based on the TV show. Final scores were Neville 11, David 10, myself 9. However, the Terrorists actually won as we weren't able to stop all the plots.

Second round of games included Deception, which included David, Patrick, Neville and me. I managed to win a round when I was the bad guy by throwing Patrick and David off the track even though Neville was, I thought, giving some good clues. Don't remember if we had time for a second round or not.

Then, there was a game of Gipsy King (four-player) that went to Rembert (54) ahead of Mike (52), Eugene (46) and Tim (42).

Gipsy King was the warm-up game, won by Moon. Scores: Moon 62, me 57, David 55, Mike 46.

Category Five was another short game, this one was a 5-player. Arnold and Rembert tied for best score at 6 (in this game a low score is good, a high score is bad), followed by Greg (7), John B (14) and Patrick (lots).

Then, it was on to some longer games. Two games of Modern Art were played, first a 3-player, won by Arnold (634) ahead of Greg (474) and Rembert (362). By this time Lewis had arrived and joined them for a second game. Game 2 was won by Rembert (473) ahead of Arnold (443), Greg (368) and Lewis (278).

Orleans was a four-player, and another win for Moon by just one point. Scores were Moon 140, Patrick 139, Mike 111, myself 105. The Bathhouse/Lab combo didn't work as well for me as it had in prior games.

Finally, Pax Porfirana was played by David, John B and Tim, and my information had Tim as the winner but no scores were given.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Nine for this week's session. In attendance were Mike, David, Rembert, Rouslan, Moon, John B, Tim and myself, plus a first-time attendee, Marion. I have only two games listed as being played: BrewCrafters and Kraftwagen, although it's possible I missed a game or two, being so engrossed in the BrewCrafters game.

Kraftwagen was a four-player, won by John B, who did well with racing and engineers; final scores were John B 73, Mike 53, David 48 and Rouslan 32. Unusual to see Rouslan finishing last in any of these games.

We had five for BrewCrafters, and we barely finished. Final scores (and there may have been some errors, as we were definitely a rush to finish): Moon 89, myself 75, Tim 65, Marion 60 and Rembert 48.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

We had a good crowd of 11 tonight, so there were three games going for most of the session. Attendees: Mike, Eugene, David, Ben, Alex, Greg, Arnold, Moon, Rembert, Lina and myself. Games played: BrewCrafters, Seeland, Pax Porfirana, Power Grid Deluxe: North America and Legendary.

BrewCrafters was a 4-player. Everyone had played before, so the game ran fairly smoothly. Final scores: John 101, Eugene 87, Moon 76, Alex 64. We played with the same rules used at the recent PrezCon tournament, using one extra marketplace tile (the Trader's market) and random draw for the Workers and Recipes. Moon went first and got the Brewpub Manager; I took Holiday Help in the second round (Summer of year 1) and I believe Eugene got the Storage Coordinator. Anyway, things worked well for me as I had an Advanced Lab that led to additional actions in the Winter, got an early Tasting Room and worked that along with Hops-Infusted ales. Eugene tried the Double Batch/bottom row strategy which did not quite work as well (points-wise). Moon posted a decent score to come in third while Alex did not fare as well as in prior games.

Seeland was also a four-player. Scores: mike 179 Greg 171 Ben 151 Lina 115. Comment on the game: Greg and Mike kept leapfrogging until Lina was forced to end the game, giving the win to Mike.

Pax Porfirana was our one three-player game, no scores but final standings were: David 1st, Arnold 2nd Rembert 3rd.

Power Grid was played with the Deluxe edition on the North America map. Scores were fairly close: Ben (the winner) had 16, then Mike, Greg and Lina followed, all with 15, second-third-fourth determined by the money tiebreaker.

Finally, Legendary was played by Arnold and Rembert. Don't believe the game made it to the finish line.

Puerto Rico John 55, Mike 51, Arnold 50, Patrick 49, Rembert 33. Arnold ran a massive shipping game scoring 41 points in shipping corn. Patrick tried a sugar shipping strategy and got 35 points that way. John and I both went factory/big building but he was "upstream" from me and was able to take advantage of it to win.
Seeland Dave 165, Greg 135, Tim 120, Neville 114. I don't have any details but all of them enjoyed the game.
The New Science was played by Tim, Dave and Greg at the end but I needed to leave before they were finished. Greg was ahead as Sir Isaac Newton but the game still had much left to it."

As for PrezCon, the three of us who have been attendees here at Laurel CC all won plaques. First place prizes went to Eugene (for Stone Age) and Moon (for Tzolkin), and I managed to snag 2nd place in BrewCrafters -- at least that's all the ones of which I am aware. Moon also did well in the team event, winning it (which means she picked good teammates). Other results: Eugene advanced to the final in Russian Railroads but didn't win a prize. Moon advanced to the elimination round of the very large Settlers tournament there, and I managed to once again lose in the Puerto Rico semis after a couple of heat wins. There may be more, as I left while some events were still in progress. Learned a couple of new games in open gaming, bought some new stuff at the Auction Store for bargain basement prices and just getting caught up on sleep right now. Looking forward to seeing everyone this coming Thursday.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Ten for this week's session. In attendance: Mike, Eugene, David, Megan, Arnold, Neville, Patrick, Tim, Rembert and myself. It was Megan's third session, making her eligible for GCOM membership. Games played: For Sale, King's Forge, Orleans (TMG Deluxe edition) and Istanbul with the new expansion.

The warmup game waiting for people to show up was For Sale. Very tight game, I managed to pull out a win with 66 points to 64 for Eugene, followed by Mike (60) and then David (50).

We then split up into two groups of five for the rest of the evening. One group, consisting of Neville, Megan, Patrick, Rembert and Arnold played King's Forge, which Neville had brought. Patrick wound up the winner with four objectives, Arnold with two, Neville with one and Megan and Rembert didn't get anyway. This same group then tackled Istanbul with the expansion, but no scores to report as I believe the game did not finish.

The rest of us played Orleans, which expands to five with the new TMG Deluxe edition that came out last fall. Mike ran away with the game, building lots of houses and then supplementing his income through use of the one of the second-level buildings after starting out with the Bathhouse. Final scores were Mike 177 Eugene 120 John 117 Tim 110 David 87.

Plan on being at PrezCon so will miss next week's session. Mike will I am sure serve ably in my stead.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Eight attendees (Mike, Ben, Greg, Neville, Rembert, Tim, Eugene and myself) were the group for this week's session, which was really the night for unfinished games; of five games played, three didn't make it to the finish line. Games played (including those that didn't finish) were 7 Wonders: Duel, Baseball Highlights, Trickeri0on, Palaces of Carrara and Power Grid: Quebec.

7 Wonders: Duel is the two-player version of 7 Wonders. Mike and I made it through the first age then picked it up after more people began to show. Then, Neville and I hooked up for a quick game of Baseball Highlights: 2045, I won the game but Neville had alot more drafting ability to pick up more players. Then, Neville and I (along with Eugene and Rembert) started Trickerion, a new Essen release where you are putting on magician shows and magic tricks. Steep learning curve meant we only got through four of the five turns of the basic game when the 9 PM witching hour struck, so three for three in unfinished games for me.

Two games that did make it to the finish were Palaces of Carrara and Power Grid: Quebec, so here are the scores:

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Good turnout of 12 for this session: Rembert, Mike, Eugene, Patrick, Greg, Tim, Lina, John B, Neville, Arnold, Rouslan and myself were the attendees. Games played: Flip City, Above and Below, Power Grid Deluxe: Europe, Favor of the Pharoah, Manila and Codenames (x2). Some results and details follow.

Flip City was the warm-up game, played by Mike, Rembert, Eugene and myself. We picked it up after more people began to show without declaring a winner.

Above and Below was a four-player, won by Patrick, Scores: Patrick 46, John (me) 41, Tim 36, Greg 28.

Favor of the Pharoah: 1st, John B, 2nd, Rouslan, 3rd, Arnold, 4th, Neville. Apparently it came down to an exciting finish, with John winning on the very last roll after Arnold and Rouslan hit their rolls.

Manila: Rouslan 207, Arnold 129, Neville 115, John B 75. Comment: Pirates were a big factor, John kept losing $$ for each of first four turns which hurt his chances.

Power Grid Deluxe: Europe: Eugene 17, Line 16.25, Mike 16/23, Rembert 16/6. Based on the scores, looks like this was a really competitive game.

Codenames was played twice. First game, the team of John and Greg won versus the team of Patrick and Tim. Second game, Tim and Patrick (joined by Neville and Rouslan) exacted some revenge, winning over the John W, Greg, Mike and Rembert team.

Started with 8-Minute Empire as the quick warmup game. Took closer to a half-hour than eight minutes. We all were about even in terms of area control points but Mike had collected more endgame bonus points (the set collecting aspect of the game) and thus was the winner. Scores were Mike 12, Eugene 10, Megan 9 and me last with 8.

Other people began to arrive, and soon we had three tables going. At one table, a four-player game of Kingdom Builder broke out. It was won by Patrick (54) ahead of Greg (50), Ben (42) and David (23). This same group wen on to play of Palaces of Carrara, which Greg had brought. No surprise, Greg was the winner in a lopsided game, score-wise. Greg wound up with 105 points, outscoring the other three combined: David (41), Ben (36) and Patrick (3).

Neville, Mike and Rembert played CV. Neville was the winner (52) compared to 33 for Mike and 30 for Neville. Mike requested I include the following comment for the blog: "Rembert had happiness and one time but didn't know how to use it."

Finally, Alex, Eugene, Megan and I played the new version of Orleans that can go up to 5 players (but we only had 4). As in another recent game, Alex came out the winner. He concentrated on getting brown (the Wheels) early then shifted over to Red for more actions and to enhance city-building and movement. He added the Horse Wagon that helped him more more efficiently. Final scores were Alex 160, Eugene 138, myself 116, Megan 57. It was Megan's first play. I concentrate on the gray guys but only got one Wheel and was behind on Red as wheel. Tough to decide what to focus on (Black, Brown, Red or Gray) in the opening rounds when you can't do everything.

Flip City was the starter game that was actually played a second time as the wrap-up game for the evening. First game was won by myself, second game did not finish. John B, Megan and Mike (who had brought the game) were the other attendees.

Greenland was a three-player, won by Matthew. Scores were Matthew 68, David 43, Rembert 31.

Mission Red Planet was a four-player. Rouslan (70) was the winner. Neville (29), Arnold (21) and Lina (15) were the other players.

Ticket to Ride - PA was won by Mike (223) ahead of John W (173), followed by John B (158) and Megan (146).

Steve, Shira and Doyle arrived late and formed a fourth table. First game, Parfum, was won by Steve (116). Doyle (97) was second, Shira third (86). The group also got in a quick game of "speed" Dominion-Dark Ages. Doyle won that one.

Arnold, Neville and Rouslan played Tiny Epic Galaxies, but the game did not finish.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Started off the new year with some new games at this week's session. Total attendance of 10, and we split into three groups for the entire session. Mike, Patrick, Ben, Lina, Greg, David, Arnold, Rembert, Paul and I were the attendees. The New Science, Jaipur, Above and Below and the Russian Railroads: German Railroad expansion were the games played. First time I believe for all these games at the club, although it's possible that the New Science (which is a couple of years old) may have made an appearance or two before.

The New Science was played by Greg, David and Rembert. Greg won with 43, David and Rembert tied for second. These three then played Jaipur, which was won by David.

Above and Below, which I believe was brought by Patrick, and was also won by Patrick. This game had four players, scores were Patrick 48, Ben 41, Paul 39 and Mike 27.

Finally, three of us tackled the German Railroads expansion for Russian Railroads. This result comes with a big asterisk, as the officially recorded scores had me first with 310, Arnold a close second with 306 and then Lina with 236. However, Arnold in scoring his last bonus chip did not claim a second reward that most likely would have resulted in at least five more points and a win, but it was too difficult to reconstruct as we had already scored points for his other actions. But, probably should go down as a win for Arnold in his first play of either the expansion and the base game. (Also, note we played with the new board, new board sections as well as the new Income chips, but not with other elements, i.e. Coal or any of the new Engineers.)